Heretofore, material such as hay, paper, metal and similar materials have been baled in devices of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,202,087, issued Aug. 24, 1965, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Tying Bales" which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Balers of this type have a chute or chamber through which the bale is moved and compressed for tying. The chamber has a compaction end in which loose material is deposited and compressed by a plunger which is reciprocally driven by a crankshaft connected to a motor or a hydraulic ram. The chamber generally has a discharge end which is adjustable to reduce the cross-sectional area of the chamber such that the bale being pushed out of the chamber frictionally engages the inside walls of the chamber. The force required to move the bale out of the chamber is a function of the frictional forces between the bale and the chamber. The frictional forces are increased by decreasing the cross-sectional area of the chamber requiring a greater force to discharge the bale from the chamber.
Usually, a first bale is formed and tied in the chamber and is moved toward the discharge end of the chamber by compression of more loose material in the chamber by the plunger to form the second bale. The first bale forms an end wall in the chamber against which to compress the material of the second bale. In order to form a high density bale, greater forces must be used to compress material into the bale by the plunger. To increase the forces required for greater density, it is necessary to increase the force required to discharge the first bale from the chamber.
However, as the frictional forces to hold the first bale in the chamber are increased, the force exerted by the second bale on the sides of the chamber is increased. The baling wire is dispensed and drawn around the bale as the material is forced into the chamber. Increased density increases the forces that the second bale exerts on the walls of the chamber thereby increasing the frictional force of the wire along the sides of the chamber. These frictional forces of the wire against the sides of the chamber tend to hold the wire against the sides of the chamber. At the same time the bale is being formed to its full size, the wire is being drawn around the bale by compression of the material in the chamber. Thus, the wire is stretched or pulled in a longitudinal direction in the chamber. The combined frictional forces and longitudinal forces on the wire will break the wire if a bale of high density is formed which would cause these forces to exceed the tensile strength of the wire. Consequently, the only correction to prevent damage to the wire is to increase the cross-sectional area of the discharge end of the chamber thereby decreasing the density of the bale.
The invention is addressed to producing an improved discharge end of the chamber to enable production of high density bales without excessive forces on the wire as the wire is formed around the bale.